This invention relates to a cellular telephone accounting system to track the location and usage of cellular phones and to provide an automatic accounting system for centralized record keeping, audit or account statements. The cellular telephone accounting system is particularly useful for rental of cellular phones where mobility of the phone presents unique problems in customer billing and accounting for the location and possession of the telephone unit. Similarly, the accounting system is useful for organizations with shared resources and equipment shared by employees, as in large private companies or government agencies. Frequently, in such organizations usage of mobile cellular telephones requires monitoring to insure appropriate distribution and authorized use of the phones. In both situations means is provided for determining where the phones have been, what calls have been made and when, and to whose account usage is to be attributed. Additionally, the organizations may desire means for determining what general account such use, including any service charges from outside vendors, should be charged.
Because existing commercial cellular phones are generally sold to a user/owner, detailed accounting schemes have been avoided in part to minimize complications with the already complicated requirements for crediting national or international communication carriers, local or regional carriers, and one or more cellular network area operators. Similarly, with multiple charges from multiple carriers, with services provided in a variety of governmental jurisdictions, tax accounting becomes a complex endeavor. With the factor of periodic use by a series of multiple users added, problems arise that cannot be resolved solely by programming changes in existing telephone units or central communication systems. While some of the features of the preferred embodiment described hereafter may be of the type that could be incorporated in central telephone service systems, inertia in altering massive communication protocols for selective applications, not of benefit to all subscribers, will inhibit implementation. Although other cellular telephone rental systems have been proposed, they have been unable to provide the full features required for proper monitoring of the location and usage of a mobile telephone unit to allow adequate flexibility in setting usage criteria for an organization or appropriate charge schedules for a rental business.
The cellular phone accounting system of this invention solves the problems in expanding the capability of existing cellular phone systems by improvements in software programming and hardware additions, which are preferably integrated into a composite system that is useful for small and large organizations.
It has been found that the primary object of this invention, to provide a system that is sufficiently flexible to enable a variety of customized tracking procedures to be incorporated to a customized cellular phone operation where a plurality of mobile telephone units are involved, can, with modifications, be applied to cellular telephone sales and distribution systems. Many of the procedures for activating and programming a new cellular phone, and entering it into a cellular network system are modified extensions to the unlocking, programming and temporary assignment of the phone in the rental or organizational setting. Additionally, since the problems of activating and assigning cellular telephones from different manufacturers to different service providers is not unique to cellular telephones, but applicable to any mobile communication device, the system described is applicable to MIRS telephones, PCS terminal phones, paging communicators or any wireless analog or digital communication device where such tasks as transaction records, credit checks, activation sequencing and sign-up for a service provider are involved.
Since cellular phone distributors and sellers may often be different entities than cellular service providers, a layer of accounting and tracking is required that is not within the province of the telephone system line operator and not adequately addressed by commercial cellular service providers or cellular telephone distributors. With modification and expansion, the tracking and accounting system devised, provides the foundation for an integrated and unified system for transfer of the communication unit from the manufacturers to the end user who signs on with the local service provider.
This modified system of programming and tracking mobile communication devices is most effectively demonstrated for purposes of description by the distribution of cellular telephone units from different manufacturers to the ultimate user. The embodiment of the system for use with a cellular telephone is therefore equally applicable to any mobile communication device, whether digital or analog or for voice or data transmission. The system is best implemented at the point of distribution by wholesalers, retailers or service providers for cellular phones or other mobile communication devices. In particular, this system meets the needs of a distributor of mobile phones from many different manufacturers and relates to a system for gang programming a plurality of mobile telephones and readying a mobile phone for immediate use by a customer or end user.
The programming, tracking and accounting system is a complete computer system that also includes a routine for encrypting the phone manufacturer's entry code on dedication of the phone or other device to a specified service provider, such that the service provider must unlock the device before the dedicated unit can be switched to a different service provider with replacement of the original access key. In addition to the important gang programming and anti-churn features, the integrated computer system provides an accounting system for tracking the use of the phone and its transfer to a particular customer and to the ultimate end user when the customer represents a group of end users.
In the field of cellular telephone communication systems, cellular telephone wholesalers and distributors customarily market a variety of different models of cellular phones from different cellular telephone manufacturers. Cellular phones are frequently marketed by cellular network service providers directly to users, including customers representing groups of end users. Service providers often contract with multiple manufacturers to obtain quantity discounts or to offer potential service customers different phone options, at different prices with different features. The chore of programming many phone units from different manufacturers is problematic, particularly when it is not desirable to have phone units with assigned phone numbers in a slow moving inventory. Typically, groups of phones are required to be programmed on an “as needed” basis and desirably unlocked for use only when assigned to a customer or end user. The feature of gang programming multiple phone units is therefore extremely important to an efficient cellular telephone distribution operation.
Additionally, the inherent mobility of the cellular phone unit with the resultant ability to incur substantial charges for telecommunication services makes accurate tracking imperative. Given the variety of factors and variables in delivering an operable cellular phone unit to an ultimate user within a discrete geographical local, a coordinated system of tracking and security is required. This complex task is complicated by the competitive marketing practices of cellular and other telecommunication service providers, which often encourage users to switch service providers. The cellular service provider is traditionally not informed of the reasons a subscriber switches companies and thereby has no opportunity to bid for continued service, or determine if the service provided was satisfactory or not. The inclusion of an anti-churn feature requiring the phone unit to be reprogrammed only by the service center of the service provider before a service switch, is a desirable asset. Additionally, the ability to account for the whereabouts and use of a cellular unit in real time provides a substantial advantage in maintaining the security and integrity of a cellular telephone system. Because the field of cellular telephone communication systems has reached a level of maturity that problems are apparent in extending distribution to common retail outlets such as mass market department stores, the programming, tracking and accounting system devised provides a format solution that is applicable to a variety of wireless communication devices where additional layers of accounting and security are required because of mobility of the device, the parties involved, or the nature and content of the transmission.
The ability to activate, program and test a plurality of phone units simultaneously and complete the assignment of the units to an end user at a retail outlet greatly enhances the economy and usefulness of a comprehensive, multitiered, management system for communication units that may be purchased, rented, leased or simply given to an ultimate user.